Kicking off Side 2 of The Wild Heart is Stevie Nicks’ massive hit “Stand Back.” Though it’s not her highest charting single (that honor goes to “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” which peaked at No. 3 in 1981), “Stand Back” is clearly her most recognizable solo hit, having been performed on every solo tour and almost every Fleetwood Mac tour (that Nicks has been a part of) since the song’s release in 1983. (Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” is another song that has been performed on every tour since its release.)

The story of “Stand Back” is now legendary among fans, but few know that, musically, the song was actually inspired by the opening chord progression of Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” — not the entire song.

‘Little Red Corvette’

“Right after I got married, I heard this wonderful song Prince had done called ‘Little Red Corvette,'” Nicks said in 1983, “And as soon as I heard it I went, ‘Boy, I love that.’ And I just started humming to myself, and in a matter of minutes, I had hummed along a very different melody than what Prince had done. Anyway, me being one of the more honest people you’ll ever meet, I immediately call Prince and tell him what I had written and how and he, against everybody’s thinking he wouldn’t, came down and played on this song! My intuitions are usually right and since he told me he was doing the video of ‘Little Red Corvette’ that day, and since I know videos and films always take a lot longer than anybody thinks, I didn’t think he’d show up. But [songwriter/musician] Sandy [Stewart] and I rushed to the studio anyway, thinking ‘what if he comes, what are we going to show him. We’ll both get out there live and try to play the song for him and start to giggle,’ right? I mean, no chance. So under pressure of fire, we did it in one take, one time, and that’s what you hear; me singing live, Sandy on her synthesizer, Prince playing that dahdahdahdahdah, very kind of ‘Edge of Seventeen’ thing, and a drum machine.

Between then and now, Steve Lukather put an incredible guitar solo in the middle and David Williams, who played all over [Michael Jackson’s] ‘Billie Jean Is Not My Lover,’ played on this. Anyway, ‘Stand Back’ become a real anthem, a real ‘I’m tired of listening to all your great advice, ’cause it’s gotten me nowhere, so I’m listening to myself now kind of anthem.’ So it came slightly out of strength, slightly out of being in love, slightly out of being married, and ever so slightly out of hearing the first three chords of ‘Little Red Corvette!'”

‘My favorite song onstage’

“[‘Little Red Corvette’] just gave me an incredible idea,” Nicks said in 1991, “So I spent many hours that night writing a song about some kind of crazy argument, and it was to become one of the most important of my songs. I’ve been doing this song for years. Fleetwood Mac does it also, and I never get tired of it. ‘Stand Back’ has always been my favorite song onstage because when it starts, it has an energy that comes from somewhere unknown, and it seems to have no timespace. I’ve never quite understood this sound, but I have never questioned it. I become a different person, and I like that, because usually I make up my own characters, but the lady in ‘Stand Back’ was not my idea. By the way, Prince did come into the studio the night I called him and told him about this song, and he played incredible synthesizer on it. And then he just walked out of my life, and I didn’t see him for a long time. It was extraordinary.”

Fleetwood Mac's Billboard Number 1, multiple-million-selling album Mirage (1982) gets the deluxe treatment on September 23. Get the full remastered album on CD, vinyl, and DVD-Audio, plus new liner notes, unseen photos, rare outtakes and remastered audio from Fleetwood Mac 1982 concert at The Forum in Los Angeles. Revisit the classic Fleetwood Mac sound on "Hold Me," "Gypsy," "Love in Store," and much more!